This invention relates generally to the field of manufacturing embossed cards, and more specifically to preventing a bottleneck in the manufacturing process that occurs when the embossed portions of stacked cards engage one another and cannot be quickly and easily separated. The present invention includes an apparatus and method for preventing the engagement of stacked embossed cards.
In the embossed plastic card industry, numerous standards have evolved over the years to ensure that the shape, size, thickness, and material of such cards are consistent. An example of these cards is a standard credit card. The term “credit card,” as used herein, refers to any embossed plastic card, whether or not used for purchasing via credit, and generally having the characteristics of common, wallet-sized cards such as MasterCard® or Visa® cards. Because credit cards are so common, the universal shape, feel, and look of a credit card are instantly recognizable to most consumers. Given the widespread use of credit cards and the need for replacing them as they are lost, damaged, or expire, a sizeable market exists for mass-producing embossed credit cards.
Authentic credit cards usually contain unique embossed information, for example, a specific name, card number, and expiration date. For this reason, authentic credit cards commonly are produced individually in what is known by those skilled in the art as a “one-up” process, which allows for customization of the information embossed on each card. In the one-up process, a tool and die, arranged in the shape of a unique design (e.g., a name, credit card number, and expiration date), are used to perform the embossing, and the design on the tool and die is changed incrementally to allow embossing of cards that contain varying information. Because the tools and dies required for embossing must be variable in order to produce varying embossments, methods used to produce these are known as “dynamic embossing” methods.
The instantly recognizable look and feel of credit cards has led to a successful type of direct-mail advertising involving what are known as promotional or “dummy” credit cards. Promotional credit cards are not authentic credit cards, but generally look and feel like them. It is estimated that the success of direct-mail advertisements containing dummy credit cards results from consumers' interest in learning what information may be contained on the enclosed credit card, which they recognize by touch even before opening the advertisement. Promotional cards may or may not contain unique embossed designs on them. Because promotional credit cards need not necessarily contain unique information, they do not necessarily require dynamic embossing methods that allow for changes in the embossing pattern. Embossing methods that do not require such changes are known as “static embossing” methods and generally employ fixed rather than variable tools and dies.
Providers of both authentic and promotional credit cards frequently need cards produced in large quantities, sometimes tens of millions at a time. Generally, during manufacture, the embossed credit cards are stacked on top of one another, for example, in stacks of 500 or more embossed cards. These stacks frequently are bound together and sent to a downstream process in credit card manufacturing. For example, a stack of embossed cards may be transported to a manufacturing station where the cards will undergo additional processes such as ink jetting, in which a unique identifier number may be applied to each card, or affixing the embossed card to letterhead stationery in preparing a direct mailing. In many of these downstream processes, it is important that the individual embossed cards be quickly and easily removed from the stack.
There is a known bottleneck in credit card manufacturing that results from the tendency of stacked, embossed credit cards to physically engage one another at their embossed portions. This engagement occurs where an embossed portion of one credit card interlocks or “nests” with the embossed portion of an adjacent card in the stack. This may occur wherever an embossed portion of one card is similar in size and/or shape and location on the card to the embossed portion of the adjacent card immediately above or below it in the stack. The result of this engagement is that any individual card in the stack may not be easily or quickly removed from the stack. Downstream credit card manufacturing processes, particularly if automated, often require the embossed cards to be freely and quickly slid from the top or bottom of the stack. The engagement of adjacent embossed cards within a stack impedes downstream manufacturing processes and presents a significant problem in credit card production.
In the prior art, methods and mechanisms for producing cards having embossments in multiple patterns are known. In U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,900,168 and 6,142,370 to LaManna, for example, a card transporting system and mechanism is disclosed wherein single cards are embossed in multiple, selected card patterns using a “one-up” dynamic embossing process. To emboss the cards in selected patterns, the card transporting system and mechanism positions the cards to be embossed at selected locations. As well, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005/0028922 to Biller discloses a card embossing system for embossing a sheet of cards wherein the embossing on adjacent columns of cards is offset, and the cards are then cut and collated using an alternating receiving tray system. The alternating receiving tray system has a plurality of cells to receive individual cards, and must be moved to a new location after every sheet of cards is cut to ensure that adjacent cards stacked in the receiving tray will have offset embossing. The use of the receiving tray system to collate the cards is awkward and can be difficult to implement in a high volume manufacturing process because each card must fall into a particular cell on the tray, and the tray must be moved to alternating locations in order to stack the cards such that adjacent cards will have offset embossing.
Prior art methods and mechanisms do not adequately solve the nesting bottleneck problem because although the cards can be embossed in different patterns, most of the prior art is limited to a “one-up” dynamic embossing process and cannot adequately accommodate mass production of multiple cards simultaneously. More importantly, the prior art methods and mechanisms do not provide an adequate collating system to stack the cards such that no two adjacent cards have all embossments in substantially the same embossment pattern.
Given the limitations and problems with existing card embossing apparatuses and methods, there exists a need for an improved card embossing apparatus and method that can emboss a sheet of cards in a number of different embossment patterns, and easily and efficiently collate the cards such that adjacent cards in a collated stack do not have embossments in the same pattern. The present invention relates to improvements over the apparatuses and methods described above, and to solutions to the problems raised or not solved thereby.